Every health and fitness journey starts with having a destination, a goal, a vision. Without it, it’s easy to get lost and end up nowhere near where we want to be. Mindset is critical in moving towards a goal. Where the mind wants to go, the body will follow. Knowing exactly where you want to go is what sets the wheels in motion for the mind creating a path of how to get from A to B.

Think of it like a sat nav in a car. To get to the location we are after we need to be specific about exactly where we want to go. If I’m travelling from Somerset to London and simply type ‘London’ as my destination, is that going to get me to the exact location I’m after – of course not. However, if I select the exact house number, road and post code, I’m likely to arrive at the exact point I’m aiming for.

Clarity of goal helps us to maintain the clear focus on exactly what we’re aiming for, especially when life gets in the way and all the challenges that face us day-to-day try and scupper our plans for success. If the goal is clear, then no matter what happens in life we still know what we’re aiming for even when something tries to block our path – and we may have to change direction or overcome an obstacle – but the end result is still clear, much like a homing missile if the target moves.

Once we have figured out the ‘what we want’, we then to identify the ‘why we want it’. Why is it so important to achieve that goal. This is usually a question that people don’t identify or their reason is not strong enough. The more emotionally driven we are to a goal the more likely we are to achieve it and overcome obstacles and challenges.

Picture the scenario – if someone suggests exercising for 60 minutes three times a week, giving up nice treat foods, cutting out alcohol and chocolate for the next three months, it’s very easy to identify all the reasons why that wouldn’t work and why we couldn’t do it. Now, if the same suggestion comes through followed by the reward of £10 million if you achieved – does that change the outcome? In my experience, yes, but why? Well, we now have something as a motivator, which is more important than the challenges which are stopping us. Those challenges are still there but now we start to find ways to overcome the challenge, to stay focused on our goal and achieve the reward at the end. Now, of course, in reality there’s no £10 million – we have to create our own £10 million motivator, which is specific to us and means more than the challenges immediately in front of us.

If it means enough we’ll find a way, if it doesn’t we’ll find an excuse.

Joe Newbold

Personal trainer at mypremcoach

Premier Fitness Training

Hemyock